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Series List

Scope and Content Note

The Richard Ward Papers contain business papers and
personal correspondence for Richard Ward and his family. It is comprised of three
series.

Series I. Business Papers contains receipts,
invoices, shipping papers, notes, and price lists. There are a few papers relating
to governance of foreign trade and trade during the War of 1812. There is a partial
log for the ship Minerva, which Richard Ward mastered.
The correspondence is between Ward and various other ships' captains, members of the
Crowninshield family, and his partner, Joshua Goodale, and Goodale's son, Nathan
Goodale. There is also correspondence regarding the diplomatic necessities of trade,
including Ward's letter to John Quincy Adams (then ambassador to Russia) requesting
a passport. There are also papers relating to the sloop Happy
Sall and her master, William Cordwell.

Series II. Personal Correspondence contains
correspondence chiefly between Richard Ward and his wife, Lydia, with other letters
from various family members. Once husband and wife relocated to New Orleans, there
is increased correspondence between the two and several of their siblings and
children still in New England.

Series III.Richard Melville Ward and Lydia Ward Papers is comprised
of personal correspondence and business papers of Lydia (Robinson) Ward and her
children, Richard Melville Ward and Lydia Robinson Ward, after Richard Ward's death.
The business papers include receipts for services and purchases by Lydia Ward and
some business papers of Richard Melville Ward. Richard Melville Ward and his sister,
Lydia Robinson Ward, maintained a regular correspondence, reflected in the personal
papers.

Biographical Sketch

Richard Ward, sixth child of Richard Ward, a justice of
the peace, and Mehitable (Curwen) Ward, was born October 31, 1776, in Salem,
Massachusetts. Ward married Lydia Robinson (1782-1870) of Lynn, Massachusetts, on
April 14, 1805. They had six children: Lydia Robinson (b. 1805), Richard Melville
(1807-1835), Sarah Curwen (b. 1811), Ann Elizabeth (1814-1817), James Robinson
(1816-1824), and Ann Elizabeth (b. 1818). Ward became master of the ship Minerva, owned by various Crowninshields, in 1802 and
subsequently voyaged to Sumatra for pepper. He was master of the ship Traveller (owned by George Crowninshield Sr.) in 1805 and
voyaged to Copenhagen and to India. Ward joined the East India Marine Society in
November 1806 and became master of the brig Louisa in
1809. From 1811 to 1813, he traveled to Goteborg in Sweden and Riga (then part of
the Russian empire). He became master of the schooner Rover in 1815 and voyaged to Halifax that same year.

Ward and Joshua Goodale formed the merchant firm Ward & Goodale in December
1815. Shortly thereafter, Ward relocated to New Orleans, where his wife joined him
by the end of 1817. His business, first with Joshua Goodale and subsequently with
Goodale's son, Nathan, succeeded, as he purchased land in 1818, and again in 1822.
Ward died December 14, 1822.

Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in Philcat. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons,
or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Cordwell, William

Crowninshield, Benjamin, 1758-1836

Crowninshield, George, 1766-1817

Goodale, Joshua

Goodale, Nathan

Robinson, James, Colonel

Ward, Lydia (Robinson), 1782-1870

Ward, Lydia Robinson, b. 1805

Ward, Richard Melville, 1807-1835

Ward, Richard, 1776-1822

George Crowninshield & Sons (Salem, Mass.)

Happy Sall (Sloop)

Minerva (Ship)

Ward & Goodale

Letter writing

Letters

Logbooks

Merchants

Merchants--Massachusetts--Salem

Pepper--Commerce

Shipping--Europe, Eastern

Shipping--Louisiana--New Orleans

Shipping--Massachusetts--Salem

Ship's papers

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Administrative Information

Copyright

Requests for permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted in
writing to the Manuscript Librarian in the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex
Museum.